


Hero

by ssa_archivist



Category: Smallville
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, Futurefic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-05-13
Updated: 2004-05-13
Packaged: 2017-11-01 06:10:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/352936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssa_archivist/pseuds/ssa_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every hero needs a villain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hero

## Hero

by Lexalot

<http://www.livejournal.com/users/lexalot>

* * *

Hero  
By: Lexalot 

Summary: Every hero needs a villain. 

Rating: PG 

Pairing: Clark/Lex 

Disclaimer: Like I need to be reminded that they don't belong to me; for the record, I already know that. 

Spoilers: Talisman 

* * *

Metropolis, 2099 A.D. 

Lex hated him. Hated what his former friend, the only friend he had ever known, had become. Lex had spent the last century warring with him because of it. Their lives never ran out and neither did their struggles for dominance. Clark was gifted with invulnerability and Lex was cursed with mutant healing. The inherent immortality kept them pitted against one another, locked in eternal conflict. They were doomed to forever wander the earth as nemeses, and they seemed born to the roles, their rivalry having long outlasted their fleeting friendship. A friendship that was a blink of the eye in their lengthy existences. They were all that was left of the world they had known, all else having passed away and into history. 

As he peered down on the city from the roof of an abandoned building, Lex stood witness to the future, and it was both everything and nothing he had imagined. The city seemed like an apocalyptic nightmare. Fires burned in random spots across the distance, filling the horizon with light and the sky with smoke. Sirens wailed, and in the morning, the blazes would be extinguished. People would surface, come out of hiding to carry on with their routines as if all was right with the world, and when the sun set the chaos would ensue all over again. Lex knew the destruction was partially his doing, but this was how battles were won. Sacrifices had to be made. He would do anything necessary to crush Clark, even if that meant he had to destroy him. 

His old friend had taken up the guise of Kal-El, or as the people knew him, Superman. After the mantle of Clark's alter ego had been assumed, it was only a matter of time before Lex clashed with this stranger that used to be his lover, used to be someone he had thought he knew well. He still clung to the hope that one day Clark would come to his senses and return to him to be as they once were. But Lex could not delude himself. It was a fading fantasy and this was the wretched reality. Lex's iron fist clenched, his flesh hand replaced with the mechanical one when it became a casualty of actions taken against his adversary. This was real. This was the cold, hard truth. He glared at the bronze statue of Superman that still sat in the middle of Centennial Park. It was a reminder that Kal-El, or whoever he was now, was omnipresent here and remained undefeated. Clark, Kal-El, Superman. It didn't matter. They were all the same. Enemy. 

A gust of wind blew past him, and Lex knew without having to turn. He had company. The whip of a cape in the fierce wind. And then, Clark's voice. "Enjoying the view?" Lex's eyes fixed on one of the pyres that used to be an office building, and he felt nothing but ice. "Did you come to admire your handiwork?" 

Anger fueled by grief. Remorse for so many dreams that ended before they really began. "I never wanted it to come to this." 

"Then why do you do this, Lex?" Desperate. 

Lex turned, casting steel eyes over his shoulder at Clark. "Because it's my destiny to do it. You remember destiny, don't you, Kal?" He spat Clark's alien name at him like a curse. 

"What has you so convinced that this is your destiny? What is it? The prophecy again? The one in the caves? Is that why you can't stand me? Because I'm the so-called chosen one? Or because you think I'm a tyrant that you have to keep in check? Maybe if you weren't so obsessed with this martyr complex of yours, you'd realize that we were both on the same side once." Lex heard him choke on tears that he held back, and though Clark's gaze remained strong, his voice became weak. "You and I had something special... Don't you know how much this tears me apart? We shouldn't be fighting. We should be working together." 

Lex shook his head, beginning to laugh almost maniacally. "After almost a hundred years of fighting, you want me to pretend that I could live with myself, going back to you when nothing's changed? I may be a lot of things, but a hypocrite isn't one of them." 

"But stubborn is one of the worst things you are, Lex. I disgust you that much? You can't let go of the pain to even attempt to make peace? So you just want to go on like this until the end of time?" 

As scorn stoked in his weary eyes, Lex advanced on Clark, and before the alien knew what hit him, a metal hand complete with Kryptonite ring was ruthlessly squeezing his throat. "I've shot you with Kryptonite bullets. I've shot you with bullets filled with liquid Kryptonite. I've used Kryptonite bombs, knives, and swords. Every weapon I could think to use against you, and you always come back. But one day this will be over, and I swear to you that I will be the one to end it!" Lex stared at Clark with contempt, and then released him from the solid grip. 

Clark gasped, and then quickly recovered. "You bastard! You're the only one with the power to defy me, but I let you live. And this is how you repay me?" 

"You think I should be grateful? For what? That you didn't burn down my home the way you did your own after your parents died? Or that you haven't ruined all I hold dear like you've done to so many other innocent people?" Lex gestured out toward the plumes that poured off smoldering structures all around them. "Those fires were started with heat vision, not matches or explosives. Every time I try to foil one of your plans, you miss me on purpose, but you don't care what else you hit." Hurt. His tone bled venom. "Even if you're sure that you spared me, I can attest to the fact that you didn't. Because the one thing I cared about most of all you took away from me. You killed the only person I ever loved." 

"I'm the only one you've ever loved." Self-assured. 

"No, you're not! You are not that boy anymore. You're not even the man he could have been. He was my savior, my everything. But you? I don't even know you. You're nothing to me. Clark Kent? He was somebody." 

"No! He was nobody, Lex. The Clark Kent you knew was naive and stupid. He was pathetic. And to prove it, he fought his future and he lost!" 

"You're wrong. You didn't lose. You gave up!" His voice swelled in frustration. "Did you forget? Because I haven't! I haven't forgotten any of it. You went mad and you never accepted that you misinterpreted your destiny... When are you going to understand?" Lex shouted, heartache raking over his words. "You weren't sent here to conquer this planet, Clark. You were sent here to save it!" 

Lex saw bitterness well within Clark's eyes. Rage for being painted as a monster and spite for knowing that he was one. "Fine." His stare turned to stone, and he sneered indignantly. "Have it your way!" Clark lunged at Lex too fast for Lex to see him coming, and instantly, Lex was being tossed through a skylight. Clark was already flying off as he fell through the glass. Lex crashed through rotten wood in the top floor, bringing debris with him to the next one. Finally, he felt the brunt of impact as a massive shockwave rippled through his body, and everything went black. 

When he regained consciousness, there was someone pulling him out of the rubble. A female voice wrought with concern. "Lex? Can you hear me?" 

"Mercy." He was thankful when he was able to open his eyes and see her at his side. 

She sighed in relief, and then helped him onto his feet. "More fallout from combat with a certain alien, I take it?" Lex nodded in response, unable to speak as he was finding it a bit difficult to breathe. She glanced at his chest and noticed a shard of metal embedded in his flesh just below his shoulder. "Hold on." He braced himself as she grasped the piece firmly, proceeding to carefully remove it. The sting was blinding for a moment, but the worst of it subsided as soon as it was all the way out. He looked down at the gash, amazed how deep it seemed, but nevertheless, he was still standing. His lung was punctured, but it was already beginning to heal. After waiting mere minutes, the gaping wound had been reduced to a scratch. Mercy smirked at him. "That's one hell of an ability you've got there, Lex." 

Lex managed a faint smile. He knew he was more than just lucky. He had always said he was meant for something great, but until Clark started on his journey to darkness, Lex had never really known what that was. And it was only after Clark strayed down that path that Lex's power to heal himself had fully matured. "There has to be a reason this happened to me." 

"You really think it's because you're supposed to stop him?" Skeptical. 

There was an air of certainty swathed about his noble countenance. "I think I'm the only one who can." 


End file.
